Why is the forest owlet famous?

It vanished from scientific records for over a century. Only seven specimens were ever collected, all between 1872 and 1884. Several authors listed it as extinct. In November 1997 Ben King and Pamela Rasmussen found two birds in hill forest north of Shahada, Maharashtra. That rediscovery made it one of India's best-known rare birds.

Where is the forest owlet found in India?

It lives only in central India. Known sites include Shahada, Taloda and Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra, and the Khaknar forest range in Madhya Pradesh. BirdLife's 2017 update noted the first records in Gujarat, and The Peregrine Fund reports a pair at Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary near Mumbai.

What is the IUCN status of the forest owlet?

It is Endangered. BirdLife International, which assesses birds for the IUCN Red List, moved it down from Critically Endangered to Endangered in its 2017 update. The change followed the discovery of birds at several new places. The same update still describes it as confined to a few forest locations encroached upon by logging.

How is the forest owlet different from the spotted owlet?

The forest owlet has an almost plain brown crown and back, while the spotted owlet is boldly spotted with white. The forest owlet's belly is clean white below a solid brown breast. It also shows strongly banded black-and-white wings and tail, a large head, and short, white-feathered legs with big claws.

Forest Owlet: India's Rare Owl — Habitat and Population

Q: What does the forest owlet eat?

It often hunts by day from low perches. The Peregrine Fund says skinks and other lizards form most of its diet. It also takes rodents, small birds, frogs, grasshoppers and caterpillars. Spare prey may be stored in tree holes and eaten later, a habit called caching.

The forest owlet (Athene blewitti) is a small, day-active owl found only in central India. It was known from just seven museum specimens and went unrecorded for 113 years. Scientists found it again in Maharashtra in 1997. BirdLife International has listed it as Endangered since its 2017 update.

This bird is one of the rare Indian species in our main guide to wildlife and the role of animals in ecosystems.

How do you identify a forest owlet?

The forest owlet is a small, chunky owl. The Peregrine Fund gives its length as about 23 cm and its weight as about 240 g. It has bright yellow eyes and a yellow beak.

Rasmussen and Collar studied all seven old specimens for the journal Forktail in 1998. They listed the features that set it apart:

Crown and back: brown and only faintly spotted, not boldly spotted.
Breast and belly: the breast looks almost solid brown, above a clean white lower belly.
Flanks: boldly barred with broad dark bands.
Wings and tail: strongly banded black and white, with a white tip on the tail.
Legs and feet: very short, heavy legs, thickly feathered in white, with large claws.

It is easy to confuse with two common relatives. The spotted owlet has white spots all over its crown and dusky spots on its belly. The jungle owlet has narrow bars on its flanks. In the field, King and Rasmussen also noted the forest owlet’s large head and its habit of wagging its tail.

Where does the forest owlet live? Habitat and range

Habitat

The forest owlet lives in tropical dry deciduous forest. These forests shed their leaves in the dry season; see our guide to tropical dry deciduous forest characteristics. At the 1997 rediscovery site, the forest was secondary teak, mostly under 10 m tall, with an open canopy. It stood at 460 m in the low Akrani Hills, the western end of the Satpura Range.

Ishtiaq and Rahmani of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) surveyed central India in early 2000. They found the owlets in open forest with little ground cover. Dense forest, as in Betul and Bastar, seemed less suitable. The Peregrine Fund also reports a pair in moist deciduous teak forest at Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary near Mumbai.

Range in central India

The bird is endemic to India. Its known sites include:

Area	State	What the sources record
Shahada (Toranmal range)	Maharashtra	Rediscovery site, November 1997
Taloda forest	Maharashtra	Three pairs found in 1998-1999 studies
Melghat Tiger Reserve	Maharashtra	New site found in the 2000 survey
Khaknar forest range	Madhya Pradesh	New site found in the 2000 survey
Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary	Maharashtra	Pair reported by The Peregrine Fund
Gujarat	Gujarat	First records noted in BirdLife’s 2017 update

Melghat Tiger Reserve

Melghat lies in Amravati district of Maharashtra, on the Madhya Pradesh border. Its Key Biodiversity Area (KBA) factsheet, last assessed in 2004, describes Southern Tropical Dry Deciduous forest dominated by teak and bamboo. That matches the forest type described on our page about animals of deciduous forests. The factsheet calls Melghat the most important site for the owlet after Shahada and Taloda.

What does the forest owlet eat? Diet and behaviour

The forest owlet is a sit-and-wait predator. It waits on a low perch and drops onto prey that passes below. The Peregrine Fund says skinks and other lizards make up most of its diet. It also catches small birds, mice and other rodents, frogs and caterpillars.

At the rediscovery, King and Rasmussen saw that it hunts at least partly by day. In the 2000 survey, a female was seen catching and eating a skink in mid-morning. The pair searched the ground from perches 3-4 m high. Birds were most active from about 6 to 10 in the morning and then rested in the shade.

The owl sometimes stores spare food in tree holes, a habit called caching. Its calls include hisses, a song and a “kwaak”. When alarmed it flicks its tail.

How does the forest owlet breed?

Ishtiaq and Rahmani report a long breeding season, from October to May, with a peak in January and February. Pairs become very territorial then and answer each other’s calls.

The forest owlet nests in tree cavities, natural holes in trunks or branches. One pair at Shahada used a hole in a Soymida febrifuga tree. According to The Peregrine Fund:

Courtship includes calling, gifts of prey and preening.
The female lays about two eggs and does most of the incubating.
The male brings food to the female and, later, to the chicks.
Chicks leave the nest at about one month old.
Young birds depend on their parents for another 40 days or more.

How was the forest owlet rediscovered?

F. R. Blewitt collected the first specimen in December 1872. Only seven specimens were ever taken, all between 1872 and 1884. Searches by Salim Ali and S. Dillon Ripley in the 1970s failed, and several authors called the species extinct.

Part of the confusion came from a fake record. A specimen said to come from Mandvi, Gujarat, in 1914 was credited to Richard Meinertzhagen. Rasmussen and Nigel Collar later showed it was really one of James Davidson’s old specimens, relabelled with false data. A BNHS search at Mandvi, based on that false record, found nothing.

In November 1997, Pamela Rasmussen of the Smithsonian Institution and Ben King of the American Museum of Natural History went looking, with David Abbott. On 25 November King spotted an owlet in degraded foothill forest north of Shahada. Two birds were seen there between 25 and 27 November 1997.

What threatens the forest owlet?

The main threats named by the sources are:

Logging and habitat loss. BirdLife’s 2017 update describes it as confined to a few forest locations encroached upon by logging.
Encroachment and fragmentation. Ishtiaq and Rahmani found that clearing for farms and settlements left forests patchy, so the owlets became scattered.
Hunting. The Peregrine Fund lists hunting alongside logging as a cause of decline.
Disturbance. Overuse of recorded calls, or playing them too loudly, could make a pair desert its territory.
Pressure on key sites. Melghat’s KBA factsheet (assessed in 2004) lists heavy cattle grazing, spreading Lantana camara, firewood collection and highways.

What is the conservation status of the forest owlet?

BirdLife International is the IUCN Red List Authority for birds. In its 2017 Red List update, it moved the forest owlet from Critically Endangered to Endangered. The reason was the discovery of populations in several new places, including the first records in Gujarat. The Peregrine Fund likewise says it is now considered Endangered. Older sources, such as the 2000 BNHS survey, still use the earlier label. The IUCN categories are explained in our guide to IUCN Red List categories.

How many forest owlets are left?

We could not find a current, sourced global estimate, only older local counts. The 2000 survey located 25 owlets across central India. Melghat’s KBA factsheet reports 39 birds seen in the Melghat area in a March 2004 survey. It also cites an estimate by Rithe (2003) of about 50 birds for Melghat and nearby forests of Betul and Burhanpur.

Conservation efforts

Protected areas. Melghat Tiger Reserve and Tansa Wildlife Sanctuary protect part of its habitat.
Surveys. In 2025, The Peregrine Fund began working with the Wildlife Research and Conservation Society (WRCS) India. Their field teams are surveying the range to update the population estimate.
Careful field methods. Ishtiaq and Rahmani advise that playing recorded calls must be strictly controlled.

For other threatened birds in India, compare the Great Indian Bustard and the Nicobar megapode, or browse our list of endangered animals in India.

Where can you see the forest owlet?

Melghat Tiger Reserve in Maharashtra is the best-known place, as it is a protected site with recorded owlets. The forests near Shahada and Taloda in north-western Maharashtra also hold pairs. Ishtiaq and Rahmani found January and February the best months to search, at the breeding peak.

Go with the forest department or a trained local guide. Never play recorded calls to attract the birds. King and Rasmussen asked visitors to contact local organisations first and to keep disturbance low.